Ann Arbor Schools won't hold back struggling 3rd grade readers

ANN ARBOR, MI - Ann Arbor Public Schools will begin monitoring students' reading proficiency more closely in light of a new state law that requires schools to hold back all students who are not reading at grade level by the end of third grade.

But AAPS will not hold back third graders who are not proficient in reading, which is one provision of the law signed by Gov. Rick Snyder in October 2016. Instead, the school district plans to take advantage of "good cause exemptions."

"We know the devastating impact of retention, and we will not be implementing retention as a strategy," said Superintendent Jeanice Swift during a board of education study session on the third grade reading law on May 17. "We will be implementing a host of strategic interventions, additional supports, parent plans, summer plans, attendance plans, all of that. But not retention. I want to be clear about that."

Students can be exempted from the retention policy if they meet certain criteria related to special education services, learning English as a second language, receiving intensive reading interventions and already repeating a grade level, or if a parent and the superintendent agree that advancing to fourth grade is in the student's best interest. The retention provision goes into effect in the 2019-20 school year.

Board secretary Jeff Gaynor said it's "impossible" and "disingenuous" to say all third graders will be proficient in reading, and he asked how AAPS will avoid retaining students who don't meet the proficiency benchmark. Swift replied that they will continue offering additional supports as those students move to the next grade level.

In 2016, about 39 percent of AAPS third graders were not proficient in reading, according to M-STEP results. Within AAPS, third-grade English language arts proficiency rates ranged from 86.7 percent at King Elementary School to 25 percent at Mitchell Elementary School.

Across the state, 54 percent of third graders were not proficient in English language arts on the 2016 M-STEP.

In compliance with the new state law, AAPS will implement the following changes starting in the 2017-18 school year:

Screen every K-3 student's reading ability within 30 days of the start of the school year and check their progress at least two more times throughout the school year. AAPS will use the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) assessment, with which teachers and students already are familiar;

Targeted interventions in addition to regular classroom instruction will be offered to students based on specific areas of need identified through the screening process;

Provide professional development for staff on early literacy strategies; and

Involve parents in the efforts with home literacy plans.

"We know that if students are not reading on grade level by third grade, they tend to fall behind very rapidly as they go through upper (elementary) and then cross over (to) middle school, where it's really very difficult to engage with the curriculum," Swift said. "While we know not every student will read by that age, we also recognize it's important to understand exactly where the issue is, where the barrier is, where the problem is so that we might give strategic intervention."

Students who are not proficient in reading by the end of third grade are four times more likely to drop out of high school than proficient readers, Swift said, citing research by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

Extra resources will be needed to hire staff to provide the targeted reading interventions, to offer more training for staff on implementing those reading interventions and to purchase new materials, Swift said. She said they are waiting to see what the state budget will provide for K-12 schools for the coming school year.

Board president Christine Stead asked AAPS administrators to track the costs associated with complying with this new state law to serve as a case study to show the fiscal impact of the mandate.

Board treasurer Harmony Mitchell said the third grade reading law - without designated funding from the state to support schools as they comply with the new mandate - is an example of lawmakers' attack on public schools and promoting a narrative that public education doesn't work.

Trustee Jessica Kelly asked how the reading screening will impact the process used to identify students in need of special education services. Assistant superintendent Lee Ann Dickinson-Kelley said staff in AAPS' Student Intervention and Support Services department, which oversees special education services, will be involved in working out those details to make sure students receive the services they need.

Steve Norton, executive director of Michigan Parents for Schools, also addressed the school board on the new third grade reading law. He said Michigan Parents for Schools initially took a neutral stance on the proposed bill, but ultimately the group decided it could not support the requirement to retain third graders who are not proficient in reading.

"I wish you the best of luck as you and school districts across the State of Michigan are trying to figure out how to implement this legislation with virtually no support from the state," Norton said.

State Rep. Adam Zemke, D-Ann Arbor, was the only person on the conference committee that hashed out a new version of the third-grade reading bill who opposed the proposal, saying he thought the exemptions would inadvertently target low-income students to be held back.

The table shows the percentage of third graders at Washtenaw County schools that tested as proficient in English language arts on the 2016 M-STEP. Lauren Slagter | The Ann Arbor News